Alphabet Just Extended Its Artificial Intelligence Reach

Source: Google. Most of the time, when tech companies have something to announce in the artificial intelligence (AI) world, it’s about a new company they’ve acquired. Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) recent purchases come to mind. But Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google made a different AI announcement earlier this week when it said that it’s opening up its TensorFlow deep learning system for others to use — for free. Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of TensorFlow; most people haven’t. But you’ve likely used its technology if you’ve ever used Google’s app to make a voice search, used Google Photos to search though your pictures, or (more recently) allowed Gmail to send a computer-generated response with Smart Reply. Deep learning is a part of AI’s machine learning, and allows computers to add to their…